The benefits of climbing stairs, one is enough

Many people are unwilling to exercise. When asked about the reasons, it is nothing more than not being able to get up in the morning, having to eat at noon, and not wanting to move after get off work. In short, it can be summed up in three words: no time!

But does exercise really require a lot of time? The answer is actually no! Here I would like to recommend a very good method to everyone, that is: climbing stairs.

01 Using fragmented time to climb stairs has many benefits

For most people, they will encounter the problem of climbing stairs every day, some of which are required for work, and some of which are because they live on a high floor. In fact, this is a very good opportunity for fragmented exercise, and you can replace taking the elevator with climbing stairs.

When we climb stairs, the main muscles involved in the exercise are the lower limb muscles, including the buttocks, thighs and calf muscles. In addition, the strength of the upper limbs and waist and abdomen are also used as assistance.

In fact, climbing stairs is a moderate-intensity exercise. During this process, we can absorb more oxygen by breathing quickly, which not only consumes calories and reduces body fat, but also has a very good training effect on cardiopulmonary function.

If you quickly climb a few floors and then rest, then quickly climb a few floors and then rest, it is equivalent to a type of HIIT (high-intensity intermittent exercise, which usually refers to high-intensity exercise for a short period of time, followed by a period of low-intensity exercise or rest).

The benefits of stair climbing are not limited to this. Regular stair climbing can also strengthen the muscles of the buttocks, thighs and calves, and even reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

It can also lower blood pressure and reduce the incidence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD, a general term for a class of diseases caused by atherosclerosis, including coronary artery disease, ischemic stroke and its acute complications).

Recently, scientists from the Peking University Health Science Center conducted a study based on data from more than 450,000 people. They found that people who climbed more than 5 floors (about 50 steps) a day had a significantly lower risk of ASCVD-related diseases. The research results were published in Atherosclerosis. [1]

A study published in the journal Sports and Health Sciences extracted data from 451,699 middle-aged and elderly people from the UK Biobank and followed them up for 12 years. The results showed that compared with participants who reported not climbing stairs, participants who regularly climbed stairs had a 5% to 14% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Among those with medium to high genetic risk, climbing 110 to 150 stairs a day could reduce their risk of type 2 diabetes by 14%. [2]

There are so many benefits of climbing stairs. Next time when you are faced with the choice of climbing stairs or taking the elevator, I believe everyone will have their own choice. When time and conditions permit, use stairs instead of taking the elevator and use fragmented time to exercise. This will not only save time, but also improve exercise efficiency. Most importantly, you can also gain a healthy body.

02 Climbing stairs is not suitable for everyone

Many people say that climbing stairs hurts the knees. Does climbing stairs really hurt the knees? To some extent, yes. But do you know why climbing stairs hurts the knees? Because our knees are relatively fragile, the action of climbing stairs will cause a certain amount of pressure on the knees.

Studies have shown that when we stand, our knees bear 86% of our body weight; when we walk, the force on our knees reaches 1.6 times our body weight; when we jog, it is 2-3 times our body weight; when we go up stairs, it is 3-4 times our body weight, and when we go down stairs, it is 5-7 times our body weight. It can be seen that going up and down stairs does put a lot of pressure on the knees.

Therefore, exercising by climbing stairs is not suitable for everyone. For healthy people, climbing stairs on a regular basis is not a big problem, but for the following people, climbing stairs frequently is not recommended:

1. Pregnant women, overweight people (obese people with a BMI greater than 24): Excessive weight will also increase the burden on the knees

2. People with degenerative arthritis: Their knee joints have been excessively worn out. If they continue to use their knees at high loads, the symptoms will be aggravated.

3. The elderly: Compared with young people, the physical functions of the elderly gradually deteriorate. Climbing stairs can not only easily damage the knees, but may also cause other injuries.

4. People with chondromalacia patellae are not recommended to climb stairs, as this condition can cause knee pain, swelling and limited mobility. Climbing stairs will increase the burden on the knee joint and aggravate the pain.

03 Climbing stairs requires scientific methods

If you are a healthy person with no knee injuries and master the correct movements, the damage to your knees from climbing stairs can be minimized. But you should also pay attention to protecting your knees, after all, it is quite expensive to replace an artificial knee.

So what is the correct way to climb stairs?

Look forward or diagonally upward, keep your head up, chest out, back straight, and use your hips to push forward.

When lifting your feet, do not let your knees exceed your toes, and step on the steps with the soles of your feet instead of placing your center of gravity on the soles of your feet or heels. This is because when you step on the steps with your heels, your legs are straight, and your lumbar spine and knees are easily stuck; while stepping on the steps with your toes will increase the forward tilt of your knees, which will put pressure on your knees.

Take one step at a time, and wait until both feet are on the same step before taking the next step.

If one knee has problems, you can go up the stairs with your good foot first and go down the stairs with your bad foot first to reduce the pressure on your knee. If both knees have problems, then climbing stairs is not recommended. If there is no elevator and you must climb stairs, you should hold the handrail and go up and down the stairs step by step, using the strength of your hands to relieve the pressure on your knees.

Try to climb the stairs to go upstairs and take the elevator to go downstairs, because going downstairs puts more pressure on the knees. When going downstairs, you can squat down a little and use the strength of your leg muscles to relieve the pressure on your knees, thereby protecting your knees.

If you are climbing stairs to carry something, try to do it in small amounts and multiple times. For example, if you need to carry a 20 kg item, you can divide it into 4-5 times, carrying only about 5 kg each time, to minimize the pressure on your knees.

After seeing so much, you might as well take action and use your fragmented time to climb stairs. Maybe by the New Year, you will have become an expert in climbing stairs.

References:

[1]Zimin Song, Li Wan, Wenxiu Wang, …….Robert Clarke, Lu Qi. Daily stair climbing, disease susceptibility, and risk of atherosclerotic cardiocasular: A prospective cohort study. Atherosclerosis. 2023.117300. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2023.117300

[2] Yuanjue Wu, Mengyun Luo, Xiao Tan, Liangkai Chen. Stair climbing, genetic predisposition, and the risk of incident type 2 diabetes: A large population-based prosperctive cohort study. Journal of Sport and Health Science. 20221013.

The article is produced by Science Popularization China-Creation Cultivation Program. Please indicate the source when reprinting.

Produced by: Science Popularization Department of China Association for Science and Technology

Producer: China Science and Technology Press Co., Ltd., Beijing Zhongke Xinghe Culture Media Co., Ltd.

Author: Zeng Xinyue, popular science creator

Reviewer: Ji Gang, deputy chief physician of orthopedics, the First Hospital of Hebei Medical University